"That one—I'll take this Spirit Artifact Longsword." Lin Li pointed at the special-offer item displayed in the case before him, priced at 499,999 yuan.
The beautiful saleswoman in the qipao had not expected that, after she had talked nonstop for more than ten minutes, the customer would choose the cheapest special-offer item in the shop. She could not help feeling somewhat disappointed.
However, she was a veteran employee who had seen it all. She did not let her disappointment show on her face, instead maintaining a dazzling smile as she nodded at Lin Li.
"Of course, sir. Please wait a moment while I write up the order for you."
Lin Li watched the beautiful saleswoman turn around to write up his order, and he let out a long sigh of relief.
If the Weapon Shop had not had this special-offer item, he—with a budget of only five hundred thousand—would not have been able to afford a single Spiritual Energy weapon in the shop.
A moment later.
"Please come again." After paying, Lin Li carried a long wooden box in his hand and left the Weapon Shop escorted by the beautiful saleswoman.
"Damn, weapons used by Cultivators are way too expensive! Great, now that I've bought this Spirit Artifact Longsword, I can practically say I'm penniless."
After leaving the Weapon Shop, Lin Li had only 3,070 yuan left in his WeChat balance. His face was filled with bitterness, and the business he needed to take care of today was not over yet.
More than half an hour later, Lin Li walked out of a pharmacy with an indifferent expression.
To hunt Beasts in the wild, one needed not only a Spiritual Energy weapon but also medicine for treating injuries.
It seemed that as long as something was related to Cultivators, nothing came cheap... At the pharmacy, Lin Li bought a hemostatic ointment favored by Cultivators, one capable of stopping bleeding quickly.
The tiny tube of ointment weighed only about thirty grams, yet it cost him 3,000 yuan—equivalent to one hundred yuan per gram.
After buying the Hemostatic Ointment, Lin Li had only seventy yuan left to his name.
Just a few days ago, he had possessed a fortune of a million yuan. Now he had fallen into such a state, and his heart had gone completely cold.
"Phew..."
"Rustle, rustle..."
A gust of wind swept past. The branches and leaves of the roadside trees swayed gently, producing wave after wave of sound.
Raindrops falling from the sky were blown in all directions by the suddenly rising wind.
Some of the rain struck Lin Li's face. The cool sensation gave his somewhat depressed spirits a slight boost.
"This is all necessary investment in the early stages. In the future, I'll earn back every one of the million yuan I've spent—and make even more money."
Lin Li encouraged himself inwardly, then walked into the distance beneath his umbrella, preparing to hail a cab home.
But just as he took a few steps, he suddenly turned around and changed direction, walking toward the distant bus stop instead.
He only had seventy yuan left. What taxi? I'll line up for the bus!
"Click."
"Bang."
After returning home, Lin Li laid his wet umbrella on the balcony to dry.
Then he returned to the living room and opened the wooden box containing the Spirit Artifact Longsword.
"499,999 yuan. You'd better perform a little better for me tomorrow!"
Lin Li took the eighty-centimeter Spirit Artifact Longsword from the wooden box and pretended to be impressive as he slowly danced with it in the living room.
After playing around with it a few times, he began circulating the Spiritual Energy in his body and channeling it into the Spirit Artifact Longsword in his hand.
After being infused with Spiritual Energy, the Spirit Artifact Longsword bloomed with pale golden Spiritual Light. Faintly, one could sense that its sharpness had risen to another level.
"Good sword! What a good sword!" Looking at the special-offer item glowing with pale golden Spiritual Light, Lin Li nodded in satisfaction. His confidence in tomorrow's Beast-hunting plan soared.
However, after less than a minute, Lin Li stopped infusing the Spirit Artifact Longsword with Spiritual Energy. Continuing like that would consume too much.
Some Beast Hunters only infused their Spirit Artifact Longswords with Spiritual Energy during combat while they were out in the wild. No one would be foolish enough to expend most of their Spiritual Energy before a battle had even begun.
Putting the special-offer item back into the wooden box, Lin Li leaned backward and collapsed onto the soft sofa.
He took out his phone, downloaded an app, registered an account, and logged into the app—one that only people who had obtained a Beast Hunter License could access.
The app's interface was extremely simple. It had only two sections: an intelligence section and a discussion section.
The content in the intelligence section was published by the Beast Hunter Guild, while anyone could post content in the discussion section.
"Outside the eastern district of Rong City, near Liu Family Village, a Wild Dog Beast with First-Order High Stage strength has appeared."
"Outside the southern district of Rong City, near Zhao Family Village, a Boar Beast with First-Order Peak strength has appeared."
"Outside the western district of Rong City, five kilometers from Two Immortals Bridge, witnesses have spotted an unknown number of Forest Wolf Beasts."
"Outside the northern district of Rong City, a Black Bear Beast with Second-Order Early Stage strength appeared at three o'clock yesterday afternoon, seven kilometers from the Abandoned Parking Lot."
As Lin Li browsed the intelligence in the intelligence section, he discovered that the wilderness outside the city was teeming with all sorts of Beasts.
The more he read, the more alarmed he became. The danger in the wilderness was far more serious than he had imagined.
No wonder the authorities repeatedly warned the citizens in the city not to go into the wilderness outside the suburbs without good reason.
Each piece of intelligence about Beast sightings in the intelligence section proved that the authorities' usual warnings were absolutely correct.
"Why do all the Beast reports in the intelligence section start at First-Order High Stage? Are there no reports about anything weaker than that?"
Lin Li browsed the intelligence section for more than ten minutes and noticed this strange situation.
After thinking it over, he guessed that it might be because Beast Hunters were at least First-Order Peak.
That was why reports concerning Beasts below First-Order Mid Stage had not been recorded in the intelligence section.
After finishing with the intelligence section, Lin Li opened the discussion section. It had dozens of times more posts than the intelligence section.
"Sharp Sword Squad recruiting! Brothers who have awakened supernatural abilities will be given priority..."
"Dawn Squad recruiting! Handsome men and beautiful women will be given priority..."
"Titan Squad recruiting! Strong, strapping men will be given priority..."
"Mala Tang Squad recruiting! Brothers who like mala tang will be given priority..."
"Thunderclap Squad recruiting! Brothers who like foot baths will be given priority..."
What the heck are these supposed to be?
Lin Li looked through dozens of posts and found that every one of them was a recruitment post. It gave him the uncanny feeling that he was browsing a gaming forum.
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